For J. Kent Messum, the publication of his first novel seemed auspicious. Bait – a high-concept thriller about a group of heroin addicts kidnapped and abandoned on an island where they are required to fend for themselves in a survivalist scenario for the sport of a group of rich voyeurs – appeared with Penguin Canada in 2013 to generally positive reviews and solid word of mouth. Though sales were modest, the book went on to win the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for best first crime novel. Not bad for someone who abandoned the music industry after 15 years to dip his toe in the precarious waters of Canadian publishing.
Yet even the prestige of winning a fairly major award did not help Messum when he and his agent shopped around his second book. Husk is another high-concept novel, set in a near-future version of New York City. Technology has become so sophisticated that scientists have developed a way to maintain consciousness after a person perishes. Living vessels, called “husks,” offer their bodies as hosts to wealthy buyers who want to experience a kind of life after death.
As a work of popular fiction, Husk seemed to check off numerous boxes that would appeal to prospective publishers. It takes up themes with cultural currency – the anxiety over the speed of technological advance, the dubious ethics surrounding artificial intelligence and bioengineering, and an apparently insatiable public appetite for speculative fiction (a genre that even boasts Margaret Atwood’s high-literary imprimatur). The book is plot driven and cinematic in its approach (so much so that it has already been optioned for television by Warp Films), and its author has a proven track record for appealing to award juries.